Pelosi: Pole vaults and parachutes

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised today that she will pass major health reform legislation one way or the other. And she defended her call to include defense spending in Obama’s proposed freeze on discretionary accounts.

Some parts of health care reform may be done piecemeal, she said, but “That doesn’t mean that is a substitute for doing comprehensive. It means we will move on many fronts, any front we can.

“We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit.”

Pelosi quoted Republican Sen. John McCain’s claim that he knows how to save billions of dollars in defense spending in her call for a freeze on all discretionary accounts.

Quoting a GAO report from last year, she said just the Pentagon’s 96 largest weapons acquisition programs had cost overruns of $296 billion. “I don’t think they should be exempted from the freeze,” Pelosi said.

“We support our military and their families, and we want them to have everything they need in battle. But we do not support an entitlement program for overruns on the part of military contractors.”